He first tried the sport during his time as an undergraduate at the University of Manchester but, surprisingly, he isn’t much of a Harry Potter fan.

“I actually first started playing because I lost a bet with somebody who was on the team, and resisted turning up for a year,” he said.

“Lots of people who play really love Harry Potter, but I just really enjoy the sport.”

The sport itself is best described as a hybrid of rugby and dodgeball.

It can appear chaotic to the casual observer but is governed by simple rules.

Aside from the obvious lack of flying, it remains quite true to the fictitious game – players even run with broomsticks between their legs.

It is a full-contact sport with seven players on each team – a keeper, three chasers (who score through the hoops to win 10 points), two beaters (who aim to hit opposite chasers with ‘bludger’ balls), and the seeker (responsible for chasing the ‘golden snitch’).

In the books the ‘snitch’ is described as a gold sphere with wings. But in the muggle version it is a runner dressed in yellow with a velcro tail attached to their shorts.

They enter the game in the 18th minute and try to evade capture. If a seeker grabs their tail they win 30 bonus points for their team.

Confused? Well its the quirkiness of the sport which is the appeal for many of the competitors.

Muggle Quidditch has taken off across the UK and about 50 universities now have a team.

There is even a national premier league as the sport establishes itself in its own right.

Image copyrightAna Caizares BejaranoImage caption Members of the new Northern Ireland and Dublin teams who now regularly play friendly games

Queen’s University Belfast Quidditch Club (QUBQC) are now ready to head to Manchester with members of the Dublin Draiochta Dragons (DDD) for their first tournament at the weekend.

Players will be trying out for the all-Ireland team in April, hoping to represent them at the International Quidditch Association’s European Games in Oslo in July.

Club President Conor said Quidditch is designed to be accessible to all.

“With university sports such as GAA or rugby, if you haven’t played at school level it’s really hard to get involved,” he said.

“It’s a mixed gender sport with strict rules so every team has a combination of players from all different backgrounds.

“This evens the odds up, so you can’t have six foot ex-rugby players playing against five foot newcomers.”

The nature of the sport means substitutions are continual and players rotate, so players at all fitness levels can get involved.

Literature student Rachel Ireland had never considered playing university sports before: “I hate going to the gym or running for the sake of it.